Rural and Provincial Sector Meeting success for Bay councils
Last week Local Government New Zealand hosted the first Rural and Provincial sector group meeting on the new triennium, where Bay of Plenty leadership was voted into several key positions.
LGNZ sector groups (metropolitan, regional, provincial, or rural) are an opportunity for similar councils to network together, share information and agree priorities with other councils with similar demographics and issues. Sector representatives are elected every three years and represent their respective groups at National Council and alongside LGNZ when lobbying central government.
Ōpōtiki Mayor David Moore said he was pleased to see the Bay of Plenty well-represented through those votes, with Faylene Tunui, Kawerau Mayor elected as the national council representative for the Rural Sector (Ōpōtiki is a member) and Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell was elected to represent Provincial councils. Even Metropolitan councils will be represented with a Bay of Plenty voice, with Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale elected as one of the three National Council representatives for the Metro sector.
“I was proud of our local leaders being part of this important work at a national level,” Mayor Moore said.
Other news at the conference was a clear message from central government that there is a “tsunami of change” on the way from central government across all local government activities.
“The speakers from government were clear that they had a large agenda they wanted to get through and moving before Christmas. And it was also clear to those of us listening, that the expectation was for these mandates to be funded within council’s current budgets.
“Speakers also noted that rural and provincial councils are also bearing the brunt of the natural disasters and storms and the costs that go with that: clean-up, flood protection, resilient infrastructure and other critical priorities.
“It was also really valuable to hear directly from New South Wales about the realities of rates capping,” Mayor Moore said.
